Maxiball question

[Where's Bruce?]

How does a 400gr maxiball compare to an expansion type conical (like the Thor) for hunting big animals? Apparently my gun cannot shoot sabots over 300gr or conicals over 400gr.
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[BelchFire]

Our JHO member, AMMOe said it best when I was discussing expansion on a bullet I was casting. The original post appears to be gone, but to paraphrase him he said something like:

"If I had a .30-30 that mushroomed to .45 cal, I'd think I had a killing son-of-a-gun on my hands. Now if you shoot a deer with a .45 cal and it doesn't mushroom at all what's the difference? Big hole in, big hole out, dead deer, eh?"

His point was that they really don't need to expand at all if you start with a big bullet. And I agree. I shoot a .45 (in a .50 with a sabot) that I cast from pure wheel weights. They are .458 and were designed for a .45-70; I think it's 330 gr. They shoot pretty well and kill everything they touch.

If you're shooting a .50 and you punch a 1/2" hole in a deer through and through, what difference does it make if they don't expand at all? I think you'll be fine no matter what you shoot, so (personally) I'd be looking for the most accurate, most repeatable load I could find. That'll help you hit 'em where you aim and the 1/2 bore will do the rest. (IMHO)

[myfriendis410]

What Belch said is true, and I can only add that the maxiball is constructed from pure lead; this means that if you hit an animal with any velocity at all you are going to have a BIG hole on the exit side (and if you hit bone everything will be kinda squishy in between). I've seen it and it's really nasty. Remember; an awful lot of big animals were killed with a round ball and relied on "big hole in-big hole out".

[Where's Bruce?]

Okay so setting the dead animal aside for a moment, how do the maxiballs fly compared to conicals?

[myfriendis410]

I've got a .54 caliber Hawken rifle that with 100 gr. of FF black powder and a 435 gr. maxi ball it cloverleafs at 100 yards. That's with iron sights from a rest. I also did all of the techniques recommended for shooting tight groups with a traditional muzzleloader. In normal hunting conditions I could realistically expect 2 1/2" groups at 100 yards with a max effective range of around 175 yards. If I hit it; it's going down.

My T/C Omega shoots right at 1" with a home cast pure lead T/C maxiball using 100 gr. of Pyrodex.